Drums of War (Part 3)

ORIGINAL WRITING This page was originally published elsewhere as part of a joint sim or fleet effort. It has been duplicated here for posterity.

Characters:	Various Consortium Captains
Location:	USS Dark Horse
Date:	August 2388
Author:	Greenfelt22
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Captain Mrat Kr’oxxon entered the Reception Hall aboard his command, the Sovereign-class USS Dark Horse. Even after his pledge to the Consortium was accepted, he still found it odd that Starfleet would give one of their Sovereign-Class ships such a foreboding name. Soon, it would no longer matter as it would not be long before the enemies of the Consortium were crushed once and for all.

“Where’s Commodore Williams?” Commander Gr’worrok, the Tellaraite commander of the USS Eenhoorn demanded. Beside him, several other Consortium captains grumbled their wonderings as well.

Mrat did his best to keep the dissension from further wrinkling his Bolian face. He surveyed the ten men and women in the room who represented the eleven Consortium ships stationed at Gavara. “The Commodore has been recalled to Deep Space 11 to answer for losing the Cochrane and Chimera.” His answer was the one that was expected. The two ships had been sent on a wild goose chase, and it was a high cost to pay for taking out one of Starfleet’s few squadrons.

“It matters not,” said the Napean Captain of the Excalibur-class Tianamen. “What matters is who is in charge now.” He narrowed his eyes at the Bolian. “I don’t suppose it’s you, is it, Kr’oxxon?”

Mrat nodded as he sat at the table with the others. “Effective this morning, it is,” he replied with a coy smile. “Commodore Terlexa is most displeased with William’s obsessions, especially since the delays are allowing Starfleet to consolidate at Starbase Unity. It’s only a matter of time before they try something.”

“And we all know that can’t be allowed to happen,” the Edosian Vark Na ith, Captain of the sh’Pavress pointed out. “Every day we wait increases our chance of failure.”

“We must strike now if Starfleet is to be stopped,” Captain th’Daven added.

“Agreed,” Mrat said, tapping his hand on the table to keep the others from chiming in. “I don’t need to tell all of you that I’ve been the biggest supporter of this initative.” He took a moment to study the expressions on his colleagues. “And now Commodore Terlexa expects me to contact her from Unity’s Ops Center by the weekend.”

The Bolian Captain turned to look at Captain Marlena Edwards, commanding officer of the Luna-class USS Callisto. “Your ship has the best sensors. What’s Cameron’s current strength?”

Marlena replied without hesitation. “Unity still hasn’t completed repairs from when we revealed ourselves. They’ve barely restored shields, but they’re still fragile. We also have a few operatives still laying low on Unity. They can be used to our advantage, so we shouldn’t worry about Unity.”

“What is the problem then?” pressed Captain Müller of the Akira-class USS Hastings.

“They’ve amassed a force of ten ships. Twelve if the Vindex and Nogura are recalled. Thirteen if the Black Hawk survived its mission in the nebula. Thankfully, the physical size of Unity’s force is small. A Defiant. A Steamrunner. A Saber. Even a hospital ship. And more of course.”

“The Hadyn Nebula’s been silent too long,” Vark said, shaking his head. “The Black Hawk is dead, and so is Geisler. Good riddance.”

“Removing Unity from the equation will be the key,” Mrat said, regaining control of the briefing, “Then we outgun their forces. I’m open to suggestions.”

“We need to divide and conquer,” said Han. “Let our operatives take down Unity, or at least cripple it. If we attack Unity from three fronts, we can surround the smaller ships and take them out quickly. The Scorpio and the Akihito are the main threats. The sooner the smaller ships are down for the count, we can overwhelm their bigger defenses before setting our sights on Unity.”

“Point of order,” interjected the celibate Deltan Captain Tekla of the Brazil. “No one here is taking into account everything that Unity is. It’s massive, and crewed by thousands. Plus, it’s a prize, a valuable commodity to offer the Dominion as a parting gift. Dismantling the Starfleet is one thing. But subduing the station is another.”

“Gas,” replied Mrat with a shurg. “It wouldn’t take much to gas the base, much less suck all of the air out of it. Besides, we’re not after prisoners anyway. We just have to make sure our operatives get past their security.”

“Sounds reasonable, yet complicated,” replied the Deltan before leaning back in her chair.

“Any other suggestions?” the Bolian pressed, looking around the room again, waiting to hear from the silent ones. “No?” he said after a moment of silence. “Captain Edwards and Captain Han. Get our operatives orders and what they need. We leave Gavara in three days. Get your ships ready.”

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Accreditation

This post was originally written by Greenfelt22 for Bravo Fleet and posted on the Bravo Fleet forums. Use of Bravo Fleet's Drums of War (Part 3) is permitted under the Creative Commons 4.0 License and has been modified to suit the story and purposes of the USS Black Hawk Star Trek Role-Playing Simulation.